the waters of the high seas, the contiguous zone, transitional and intertidal areas, salt marshes, and wetlands within the coastal zone and on the OCS.

Material remains means physical evidence of human habitation, occupation, use, or activity, including the site, location, or context in which such evidence is situated.

Maximum efficient rate (MER) means the maximum sustainable daily oil or gas withdrawal rate from a reservoir that will permit economic development and depletion of that reservoir without detriment to ultimate recovery.

Maximum production rate (MPR) means the approved maximum daily rate at which oil or gas may be produced from a specified oil-well or gaswell completion.

Minerals includes oil, gas, sulphur, geopressured-geothermal and associated resources, and all other minerals that are authorized by an Act of Congress to be produced.

Natural resources includes, without limiting the generality thereof, oil, gas, and all other minerals, and fish, shrimp, oysters, clams, crabs, lobsters, sponges, kelp, and other marine animal and plant life but does not include water power or the use of water for the production of power.

Nonattainment area means, for any air pollutant, an area that is shown by monitored data or that is calculated by air quality modeling (or other methods determined by the Administrator of EPA to be reliable) to exceed any primary or secondary ambient air quality standard established by EPA.

Nonsensitive reservoir means a reservoir in which ultimate recovery is not decreased by high reservoir production rates.

Oil reservoir means a reservoir that contains hydrocarbons predominantly in a liquid (single-phase) state.

Oil reservoir with an associated gas cap means a reservoir that contains hydrocarbons in both a liquid and gaseous (two-phase) state.

Oil-well completion means a well completed in an oil reservoir or in the oil accumulation of an oil reservoir with an associated gas cap.

Operating rights means any interest held in a lease with the right to explore

for, develop, and produce leased substances.

Operator means the person the lessee(s) designates as having control or management of operations on the leased area or a portion thereof. An operator may be a lessee, the MMS-approved designated agent of the lessee(s), or the holder of operating rights under an MMS-approved operating rights assignment.

Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) means all submerged lands lying seaward and outside of the area of lands beneath navigable waters as defined in section 2 of the Submerged Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1301) whose subsoil and seabed appertain to the United States and are subject to its jurisdiction and control.

Person includes, in addition to a natural person, an association (including partnerships and trusts), a State, a political subdivision of a State, or a private, public, or municipal corporation.

Pipelines are the piping, risers, and appurtenances installed for transporting oil, gas, sulphur, and produced waters.

Processed geological or geophysical information means data collected under a permit or a lease that have been processed or reprocessed. Processing involves changing the form of data to facilitate interpretation. Processing operations may include, but are not limited to, applying corrections for known perturbing causes, rearranging or filtering data, and combining or transforming data elements. Reprocessing is the additional processing other than ordinary processing used in the general course of evaluation. Reprocessing operations may include varying identified parameters for the detailed study of a specific problem area.

Production means those activities that take place after the successful completion of any means for the removal of minerals, including such removal, field operations, transfer of minerals to shore, operation monitoring, maintenance, and workover operations.

Production areas are those areas where flammable petroleum gas, volatile liquids or sulphur are produced, processed (e.g., compressed), stored, transferred (e.g., pumped), or otherwise

handled before entering the transportation process.

Projected emissions means emissions, either controlled or uncontrolled, from a source or sources.

Regional Director means the MMS officer with responsibility and authority for a Region within MMS.

Regional Supervisor means the MMS officer with responsibility and authority for operations or other designated program functions within an MMS Region.

Right-of-use means any authorization issued under this part to use OCS lands.

Right-of-way pipelines are those pipelines that are contained within:

(1) The boundaries of a single lease or unit, but are not owned and operated by a lessee or operator of that lease or unit;

(2) The boundaries of contiguous (not cornering) leases that do not have a common lessee or operator;

(3) The boundaries of contiguous (not cornering) leases that have a common lessee or operator but are not owned and operated by that common lessee or operator; or

(4) An unleased block(s).

Routine operations, for the purposes of subpart F, means any of the following operations conducted on a well with the tree installed:

means those archaeological resources that meet the criteria of significance for eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places as defined in 36 CFR 60.4, or its successor.

Suspension means a granted or directed deferral of the requirement to produce (Suspension of Production (SOP)) or to conduct leaseholding operations (Suspension of Operations (SOO)).

Waste of oil, gas, or sulphur means:

(1) The physical waste of oil, gas, or sulphur;

(2) The inefficient, excessive, or improper use, or the unnecessary dissipation of reservoir energy;

(3) The locating, spacing, drilling, equipping, operating, or producing of any oil, gas, or sulphur well(s) in a manner that causes or tends to cause a reduction in the quantity of oil, gas, or sulphur ultimately recoverable under prudent and proper operations or that causes or tends to cause unnecessary or excessive surface loss or destruction of oil or gas; or

(4) The inefficient storage of oil.

Welding means all activities connected with welding, including hot tapping and burning.

Wellbay is the area on a facility within the perimeter of the outermost wellheads.

Well-completion operations means the work conducted to establish production from a well after the production-casing string has been set, cemented, and pressure-tested.

Well-control fluid means drilling mud, completion fluid, or workover fluid as appropriate to the particular operation being conducted.

Western Gulf of Mexico means all OCS areas of the Gulf of Mexico except those the Director decides are adjacent to the State of Florida. The Western Gulf of Mexico is not the same as the Western Planning Area, an area established for OCS lease sales.

Workover operations means the work conducted on wells after the initial well-completion operation for the purpose of maintaining or restoring the productivity of a well.

You means a lessee, the owner or holder of operating rights, a designated agent of the lessee(s), a pipeline rightof-way holder, or a State lessee granted a right-of-use and easement.

PERFORMANCE STANDARDS

$250.106 What standards will the Director use to regulate lease operations?

The Director will regulate all operations under a lease, right-of-use and easement, or right-of-way to:

(a) Promote orderly exploration, development, and production of mineral resources;

(b) Prevent injury or loss of life;

(c) Prevent damage to or waste of any natural resource, property, or the environment; and

(d) Cooperate and consult with affected States, local governments, other interested parties, and relevant Federal agencies.

§ 250.107 What must I do to protect health, safety, property, and the environment?

(a) You must protect health, safety, property, and the environment by:

(1) Performing all operations in a safe and workmanlike manner; and

(2) Maintaining all equipment in a safe condition.

(b) You must immediately control, remove, or otherwise correct any hazardous oil and gas accumulation or other health, safety, or fire hazard.

(c) You must use the best available and safest technology (BAST) whenever practical on all exploration, development, and production operations. In general, we consider your compliance with MMS regulations to be the use of BAST.

(d) The Director may require additional measures to ensure the use of BAST:

(1) To avoid the failure of equipment that would have a significant effect on safety, health, or the environment;

(2) If it is economically feasible; and (3) If the benefits outweigh the costs.

§ 250.108 What requirements must I follow for cranes and other material-handling equipment?

(a) If you operate a crane installed on fixed platforms you must:

(1) Follow the American Petroleum Institute (API) Recommended Practice (RP) for Operation and Maintenance of Offshore Cranes (API RP 2D);

(2) Keep inspection, testing, and maintenance records at the OCS facility for at least 2 years; and

(3) Keep crane operator qualifications at the facility for at least 4 years.

(b) You must operate and maintain all other material-handling equipment in a manner that ensures safe operations and prevents pollution.

§ 250.109 What documents must I prepare and maintain related to welding?

(a) You must submit a Welding Plan to the District Supervisor before you begin drilling or production activities on a lease. You may not begin welding until the District Supervisor has approved your plan.

(b) You must keep the following at the site where welding occurs:

(1) A copy of the plan and its approval letter; and

(2) Drawings showing the designated safe-welding areas.

§ 250.110 What must I include in my welding plan?

You must include all of the following in the Welding Plan that you prepare under $250.109:

(a) Standards or requirements for welders;

(b) How you will ensure that only qualified personnel weld;

(c) Practices and procedures for safe welding that address:

(1) Welding in designated safe areas; (2) Welding in undesignated areas, including wellbay;

(3) Fire watches;

(4) Maintenance of welding equipment; and

(5) Plans showing all designated safewelding areas.

(d) How you will prevent spark-producing activities (i.e., grinding, abrasive blasting/cutting and arc-welding) in hazardous locations.

$250.111 Who oversees operations under my welding plan?

A welding supervisor or a designated person in charge must be thoroughly familiar with your welding plan. This

person must ensure that each welder is properly qualified according to the welding plan. This person also must inspect all welding equipment before welding.

$250.112 What standards must my welding equipment meet?

Your welding equipment must meet the following requirements:

(a) All engine-driven welding equipment must be equipped with spark arrestors and drip pans;

(b) Welding leads must be completely insulated and in good condition;

(c) Hoses must be leak-free and equipped with proper fittings, gauges, and regulators; and

(d) Oxygen and fuel gas bottles must be secured in a safe place.

$ 250.113 What procedures must I follow when welding?

(a) Before you weld, you must move any equipment containing hydrocarbons or other flammable substances at least 35 feet horizontally from the welding area. You must move similar equipment on lower decks at least 35 feet from the point of impact where slag, sparks, or other burning materials could fall. If moving this equipment is impractical, you must protect that equipment with flame-proofed covers, shield it with metal or fire-resistant guards or curtains, or render the flammable substances inert.

(b) While you weld, you must monitor all water-discharge-point sources from hydrocarbon-handling vessels. If a discharge of flammable fluids occurs, you must stop welding.

(c) If you cannot weld in one of the designated safe-welding areas that you listed in your safe welding plan, you must meet the following requirements:

(1) You may not begin welding until: (i) The welding supervisor or designated person in charge advises in writing that it is safe to weld.

(ii) You and the designated person in charge inspect the work area and areas below it for potential fire and explosion hazards.

(2) During welding, the person in charge must designate one or more persons as a fire watch. The fire watch must:

(i) Have no other duties while actual welding is in progress;

(ii) Have usable firefighting equip ment;

(iii) Remain on duty for 30 minutes after welding activities end; and

(iv) Maintain a continuous surveillance with a portable gas detector during the welding and burning operation if welding occurs in an area not equipped with a gas detector.

(3) You may not weld piping, containers, tanks, or other vessels that have contained a flammable substance unless you have rendered the contents inert and the designated person in charge has determined it is safe to weld. This does not apply to approved hot taps.

(4) You may not weld within 10 feet of a wellbay unless you have shut in all producing wells in that wellbay.

(5) You may not weld within 10 feet of a production area, unless you have shut in that production area.

(6) You may not weld while you drill, complete, workover, or conduct wireline operations unless:

§ 250.114 How must I install and operate electrical equipment?

The requirements in this section apply to all electrical equipment on all platforms, artificial islands, fixed structures, and their facilities.

(a) You must classify all areas according to API RP 500, Recommended Practice for Classification of Locations for Electrical Installations at Petroleum Facilities Classified as Class I, Division 1 and Division 2, or API RP 505, Recommended Practice for Classification of Locations for Electrical Installations at Petroleum Facilities Classified as Class I, Zone 0, Zone 1, and Zone 2.

(b) Employees who maintain your electrical systems must have expertise

in area classification and the performance, operation and hazards of electrical equipment.

(c) You must install all electrical systems according to API RP 14F, Recommended Practice for Design and Installation of Electrical Systems for Offshore Production Platforms. You do not have to comply with Sections 7.4, Emergency Lighting, and 9.4, Aids to Navigation Equipment.

(d) On each engine that has an electric ignition system, you must use an ignition system designed and maintained to reduce the release of electrical energy.

[64 FR 72775, Dec. 28, 1999, as amended at 65 FR 219, Jan. 4, 2000]

$250.115 How do I determine well producibility?

You must follow the procedures in this section to determine well producibility if your well is not in the GOM. If your well is in the GOM you must follow the procedures in either this section or in §250.116 of this subpart.

(a) You must write to the Regional Supervisor asking for permission to determine producibility.

(b) You must either:

(1) Allow the District Supervisor to witness each test that you conduct under this section; or

(2) Receive the District Supervisor's prior approval so that you can submit either test data with your affidavit or third party test data.

(c) If the well is an oil well, you must conduct a production test that lasts at least 2 hours after flow stabilizes.

(d) If the well is a gas well, you must conduct a deliverability test that lasts at least 2 hours after flow stabilizes, or a four-point back pressure test.

$250.116 How do I determine producibility if my well is in the Gulf of Mexico?

If your well is in the GOM, you must follow either the procedures in §250.115 of this subpart or the procedures in this section to determine producibility.

(a) You must write to the Regional Supervisor asking for permission to determine producibility.

(b) You must provide or make available to the Regional Supervisor, as re

quested, the following log, core, analyses, and test criteria that MMS will consider collectively:

(1) A log showing sufficient porosity in the producible section.

(2) Sidewall cores and core analyses that show that the section is capable of producing oil or gas.

(3) Wireline formation test and/or mud-logging analyses that show that the section is capable of producing oil or gas.

(4) A resistivity or induction electric log of the well showing a minimum of 15 feet (true vertical thickness except for horizontal wells) of producible sand in one section.

(c) No section that you count as producible under paragraph (b)(4) of this section may include any interval that appears to be water saturated.

(d) Each section you count as producible under paragraph (b)(4) of this section must exhibit:

(1) A minimum true resistivity ratio of the producible section to the nearest clean or water-bearing sand of at least 5:1; and

(2) One of the following:

(i) Electrical spontaneous potential exceeding 20-negative millivolts beyond the shale baseline; or

(ii) Gamma ray log deflection of at least 70 percent of the maximum gamma ray deflection in the nearest clean water-bearing sand-if mud conditions prevent a 20-negative millivolt reading beyond the shale baseline.

§ 250.117 How does a determination of well producibility affect royalty status?

A determination of well producibility invokes minimum royalty status on the lease as provided in 30 CFR 202.53.

§ 250.118 Will MMS approve gas injection?

The Regional Supervisor may authorize you to inject gas on the OCS, on and off-lease, to promote conservation of natural resources and to prevent waste.

(a) To receive MMS approval for injection, you must:

(1) Show that the injection will not result in undue interference with operations under existing leases; and